US Confrontation with Iran

This is the home page for the US Confrontation with Iran investigative project, one of several grassroots investigations being hosted on the History Commons website. The data published as part of this investigation has been collected, organized, and published by members of the public who are registered users of this website.

Timeline entries sorted by the month they were published

What's New?

8/10/2009 More Coverage Needed

A recent spate of entries has once again moved this project forward, covering both the Larry Franklin/AIPAC information-passing prosecutions and Bush-era concerns that destabilizing Iran would lead to further instability in the Middle East. Much remains to be done in this project. We welcome your contributions.

The Bush administration appears determined to topple the theocratic regime in Iran, which has been in power since the 1979 overthrow of the US-backed Pahlavi monarchy. Rather than have a repeat of the disastrous occupation in Iraq, the Bush administration seems to favor a regime-change strategy that rests on the promotion of instability in Iran in order to trigger an internal coup that would replace the current regime with a leadership more favorable to US interests.

The Bush administration’s official reason for confronting Iran is that the country has a nuclear weapons program. Under this pretext, the administration has moved forward with plans that could eventually lead to either US covert interference in Iran’s politics or direct military strikes that would weaken Iran’s military to the point that dissident groups could move in, rally public support and replace the government.

While the rationale for a nuclear-free region may appear sound on the surface there are indications that the United States’ confrontation with Iran has more to do with Iran’s growing role as a regional power. Recently, Iran has signed on to a number of powerful alliances in the region. In 2005, it joined Pakistan and India in an observer status role to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). (The SCO is a group of countries that includes China, Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan who are developing strategies to limit US hegemony in the region.) Iran has also formed several economic partnerships with the member-states of the SCO as well as with Japan, Indonesia, Pakistan, and India—countries that may be unwilling to support a US intervention that might ultimately threaten their energy security.

At stake is control over the energy supplies of China, Japan, and the countries of Southeast Asia. If the US emerges as the winner in this geopolitical struggle, it will gain substantial political and economic leverage over this region.

If anyone is interested in contributing to this project, please contact us.